Dostoevsky’s Grand Inquisitor (a Gnostic Fever Dream) (Part 3)

About this event

Is Freedom something that brings happiness? In Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Grand Inquisitor chapter of “The Brothers Karamazov” it is suggested that Freedom is something that people “ in their simplicity and innate lawlessness cannot even comprehend, which they dread and fear–for nothing has ever been more insufferable for man and for human society than freedom! But do you see these stones in this bare, scorching desert? Turn them into bread and mankind will run after you like sheep, grateful and obedient, though eternally trembling lest you withdraw your hand and your loaves cease for them .”

In this chapter, Christ returns to sixteenth-century Spain during the Inquisition, only to be arrested by the Grand Inquisitor. The Inquisitor argues that Christ made a terrible mistake by giving humanity freedom, because most people cannot bear the responsibility and uncertainty that accompany it. By rejecting Satan's three temptations, Christ refused to secure humanity's obedience through miracle, mystery, and authority. The Church, the Inquisitor claims, has corrected Christ's mistake by offering people certainty, security, and happiness in exchange for their freedom.

What does this story tell us about the inversion of Freedom and Bondage, and the nature of belief? Can belief produced by a miracle can still be considered a freely chosen faith? Do people then believe because they freely love God, or because they have been confronted with a power they cannot deny?

In several ancient Gnostic traditions, there is a distinction between two divine figures

The true God : The highest, transcendent source of goodness and spiritual truth.

The Demiurge : An inferior, ignorant, or malevolent creator who produces and governs the material world, sometimes falsely claiming to be the supreme God.

In these traditions, the material world is imperfect, and human beings are trapped within it, largely ignorant of their true spiritual nature.

Join us for a discussion of Freedom, Gnosticism, Miracles, and this chapter of Dostoevsky’s classic novel. All are welcome and no reading is required!

This is the third installment of the "Genealogy of the Devil” series (previous attendance not required):

Dionysus, Pan, and the origins of the devil (Completed, 9/6) Nietzsche’s Ass Festival and Hegel’s Topsy Turvy World (Completed, 9/27) Augustine, Manichaeism, and God's evil problem (TBD) Goethe's “Faust” (Close Reading) (TBD)

From Narrative Reflections: Philosophy in Literature & Film